


Second Chances

by 4persephone



Category: Star Wars Rebels
Genre: Gen, Kanan Jarrus : The Daddening, Now in the fuzzy four legged edition, The boys haven't decided which better applies, Wolf Packs are the ultimate bros, at least at the moment, or the ultimate assholes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-03-26 19:09:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13864137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/4persephone/pseuds/4persephone
Summary: Or: The 4th Season AU where in Ezra Bridger disappears mysteriously during the final battle for Lothol, and very shortly after that, the Lothalian Wolf Pack throws a suspiciously familiar looking loth-pup directly at Dume's sulky head...(updated after the finale with a little expansion, tweaking to make it finale friendly(esque).  Don't think for even a moment though it'll be any less cracky...





	1. Discovery

**Author's Note:**

> You asked for it, and you're almost inevitably going to regret it...but here for the multiple requesting tumblr fans, is the start of my crack pre-finale coping method at the moment. Please be aware it is going to primarily be written as a counterbalance to my more serious ongoing projects and so yeah though it's pretty sober on initial introduction...that probably won't last long beyond halfway through next section.
> 
> A/N I have NEVER owned a dog...and this is all just a product of my massive denial and need to smile when I think about both Ezra and Kanan at the moment instead of tearing up. Anyone who expects much high discourse from this verse will almost certainly be greatly disappointed. That said, this AU will almost certainly reference grief/grieving on some levels...because it can't not under the circumstances. It will probably also include a touch of angst and intergroup conflict as everyone involved adjusts to their new forms/lives/realities. 
> 
> All that said I repeat one more time for the record- here be crack! This whole verse is basically just my way of NOT crying my eyes out at the thought of Ezra living on indefinitely without some variant of continued comfort or guidance from his 'master' or any of the rest of the specters in the wake of the series finale...even if I have to be ridiculous as kark while actually doing it... 
> 
> Additional note for those who actually care about what kind of stuff I actually write or don't (the rest can feel free to skip) : I, for the record, *do* understand the writer's decision that Kanan's death was a 'necessary part' of the narrative for Ezra's overall growth, and that as a result he is now permanently gone in any sort of incarnation but I also strongly feel that the continual early death of mentors in star wars long before their students are truly ready to be on their own has been overplayed all too often in this verse with often deeply tragic consequences - not to mention the writer in me REALLY feels as if they're wasting a potentially interesting character arc not showing us more of Lothwolf Dume and Kanan's largely unwritten but temptingly hinted at past backstory! 
> 
> That kept in mind I really don't foresee that I will be writing much SWR in actual canon verse anytime soon unless we meet Jacen and/or the others down the road in one of the other series or we aget to see much more of Ezra's story post series finale and I then get bit by the resultant plot bunny . Others out there in the SWR writing community have all addressed the rest of the crew's grief process/stories post series finale quite beautifully and I as always tip my hats to them and their artistry...but I don't intend to do the same anytime soon. This isn't because I'm bitter or resentful mind you...but writing for me is meant to be fun/therapeutic and I have personally dealt with enough death/tragedy in my own life these past few years I don't want it to also monopolize the hours I find time to work on my writing. Real life has plenty of challenge and pain to endure as far as I'm concerned, so hope and joy and humor will always be the presumable heart of my stories. Happy endings are my middle finger to real life essentially.
> 
> Finally for those confused by the Kanan vs Dume stuff in the tags, feel free to seek more clarification if needed via the additional notes at the end of this story

Dume had expected a lot of things to be waiting for him back home when his younger sister howled him return to their den after a week or two of his self imposed isolation, in the wake of the Imperial fleets retreat ...or should he say banishment from the Lotholian system. Including among other things, an offered puppy pile for solace, a gentle lecture on hiding away like a pup while sulking and, if none of that proved to be sufficient in sucessfully rousimg him, ultimately a giant karking lecture to the tune of 'Let it go already you oversized dunder..head. You did your very best." Because yes, "Admittedly things may have gotten more than a little messed by the end - but we ...via the kid...still saved home territory - sent the imperials and the threat they pised to the Temple Door packing." Which was supposedly why he had originally performed the ritual of rebirthing to begin with. "What is, as their own parebts had liked to say, is. "And so now Brother Mine," a Phaantom sister continues to lay out ruthlessly in his head, "It's time for you to forgive yourself and move the kriff on...the rest of them made their choices. Even the cub. So at least show him the courtesy of actually honoring them. There will be more of his kind to come in the future just as there have been in the past." Yes...he could already hear the words his younger sibling would ultimately aim at him...Along with however many gentle headswipes, licks under his chin etc his sister would give him. 

But he hadn't been looking for...muchless wanting any of that.

Because while yes Dume understands - well *logically* anyway - why there's truth in all of the above, he's also equally aware that it’s basically futile for the others to waste their energy on such ineffective words at the moment. Just as much so at its futile for him to brood any longer over Jedi knight Kanan Jarrus' 'death' as much as he has been since he first returned to his true form in the wake of his lesser self's death...'

Some grief must be acknowledged...wordlessly endured until it either passes or doesn't. That is the least that is owed, after the miraculous way that they had all - well for the most part - gotten what they most desperately wanted or needed...safety, freedom...a guaranteed future free of chronal armegeddon...in exchange for Ezra's own choices and sacrifices at the end.

Still Dume bitter sharp memories, as well as the deep personal shame that he's carrying around with him as a result of their continued existance... over not only how things had ultimately ended but how he'd contributed to them ending that way are still fang sharp in his memory- wounds not just of the flesh but of spirit ripped open by shock and then left pretty much indefinitelu to fester. There is simply nothing to be done at this point he knows but to press on... For Kabuki Dume: eldest male of the Eastern pack to try his best to survive it. He owes it to the dead to at least try not just lay down and wait for his own chance to blessedly join them.

That all kept in the forefront of his mind, Dume sighs deeply in response to the summoins, before howling back then steppimg through the inbetween orienting homeward - expecting to welcomed back gruffly but genuinely by the rest of the pack to their day to day lives after long years of weakened human flesh and absence. .

He expects to be pounced on, bullied, fed and cossetted by the others …and knowing his sister as well as he stil does, relentlessly pushed into both looking and moving forward to a better future no matter how impossible the task of going on in the same way he once had currently seems.

He does not expect the pack as a whole to reach out to him in a shared projection of mutual concern and distress before he even fully materializes....as he steps out of the in between into the space that marks the entrance to their main winter den right as the five of them all but throw a loth wolf puppy at his head essentially.

“I am sorry, Big Brother…” Aisha’s voice is a mixture of both relief and trepidation in his head. “I had meant to give you more time for respite from your current sorrows before we ultimately brought you in on this. It’s just that…well, we are running out of time. Andf you see best equipped at triage at the current moment. As I said...you were not part of the ongoing discyssions at the time..you were to busy readjusting... But well, the rest of the pack congressed just shortly before the final battle against The Invaders in order to discuss its most probable outcome given the unfolding shape of all of our dreama, and we decided as a result that it was the only right choice to be made given both your own ties the pup and our own girth of unpaid debts. Given what he risked to drive out the enemy Kabuki -what he was willing to sacrifice to protect for all of our sakes, it seemed only fair for us to begin to adress the imbalance. And so we deliberately blazed another path for one who seemed doomed to step off all roads entirely. To offer another route then almost certain death. " Dume's heart is pounding in his chest. Aisha's words die off then as ANOTHER of the wolves continues. The one responsible for this whole idea to begin with Dume's suspecting. "The ritual went off just as it did the last time when you invoked it last time Captain, or at least it seemed to initially. Only now there seems to be some issues arising with the pup in the wake of said transformation. He is...he is not as he was meant to be, Dume, as far as can be seen. He pulls from all of us like we are not kin but alien...and now even after several days trying to coax him...to reassure him otherwise both his spirit and his body seem intent on simply failing him...”

“Just like it did last time?” Dume’s a little afraid honestly to even ask the question even as he swiftly descends into the dimness of the main cave from out of the early morning sunshine, pausing for just a couple of seconds as he does so to let his eyes adjust to the darkness out of nothing but sheer habit based instinct even though in his current form there's really no longer any need for such kinds of adaptions. Still, even as even as he approaches the end of the stone ramp and the unexpected youngling who they're apparently all currently guarding, Dume just suddenly *knows* who he is going to discover waitimg there in a way that sets some part of him previously thought burned numb to humming. Because even now in one withered dejected corner of his remaining lifespark a single, gossamer thread of light - of the sort that he'd truly thought was likely lost to all of them forever - had just started thrumming. Like a warm, strong, welcoming song slicing like molten lava through emotional glaciers of overwhelming grief that had previously enveloped him. 

'Home. Family. Belonging. Affection.' And now imdescribable joy. Because his pup... Because his former Padawan lived. Even after Dume as Kanan Jarrus had so utterly failed to remember exactly what lives and secrets he'd sworn himself to guarding and left the pup with the job of shouldering Dume's own secrets and protective oaths for him.

His pack mates turn jointly face to him then as one then, just as he reaches the bottom of the incline that leads into their summer home, parting one at a time to either side, making room for him to numbly approach cowering lothpuppy directly ahead, as Ashtar - Aisha’s favored - well at least for the moment - finally speaks up, his lower plainer speaking mind voice ultimately breaking the renewed silence.

“Your otherselve’s Padawan still lives, Dume - for the moment at least, thanks to our earlier precautions. But like Emir said earlier...though we carefully followed all the notes we could find concerning the ritual that the two of you have now shared in common I fear that after his human body passed into this new far when his other body failed his mind must have snapped as well somewhere in the transition. He is...not well Kabuki. He has refused all food and drink we have attempted repeatedly to provide him. And he also eschews any and all comfort or guidance the rest of us have tried to provide him. You had no such issues before when you were first found by the humanoid lotholians. We have no clue how to proceed next under the current circumstances.

Ezra - who's still half backed up under the shelter of his low ledge meanwhile- looks alarmingly listless and wan, not to even mention so utterly terrified that the oldest of the Lothwolves' a little surprised his padawan hasn’t already passed out as a result of his sudden appearance either from sheer strain, or just advanced dehydration. Nonetheless as her draws slowly, relentlessly nearer, the dark head of blue black fur finally lifts a little from its essentially tucked under ridiculously oversize paws for just long enough to stare at him directly, for a couple of long confusion drenched second. Then there's a gaspy inhale of air in clear if shocked recognition before a distressed little whine pours out of a small canine throat in perfect tandem with the whole body shudders that are shaking his form at present.

‘Kanan?’ The psychic voice in his head is soft as breath when it finally comes… But also clearly recognizable as specifically Ezra's. ‘It was all supposed to be over now, right? Wasn't it Master. I mean... I thought that if I did everything that you asked me to do... Saved Ahsoka... Kept the Empire from getting access to the door when we got spotted in the process of making that happen...plus saved Lothol and Hera and the ...the others if I could find some smart way to keep them all safe then afterwards I'd get to rest...only now I'm...but why? Did I somehow screw up yet again?’

The tremulous question - heavy with exhaustion and despair and no small amount of confusion- makes Dume flinch in reply, nearly whining himself in instinctive protest at nearly crushing wave of personal failure that he can now both sense and smell coming off of Ezra as the younger Jedi all but psychicallly weeps, unable to understamd either the how or why of his current circumstances just equalky certain he somehow must be the one at blame for them. His former Padawan's mind hasn't actually broken just under the weight of the disphoria Ezra's been enduring...but he's clearly close...unsurprisingly under the circumstamces. There'd been no training for this kind of shock in any of the younger man's training or previous lifetime experiences. 

Which is why Dume just sinks all the way down onto the floor on his belly, using the closer of his front paws to carefully draw the smaller body out and shift it toward his own as best as he can ...tucking the younger former Jedi into the warm curve of fur and safety just beneath his own chin. Ezra for his own part, shudders hard in response, but then he presses in closer with a breathy little whine at the contact..instinctively accepting the comfort of receiving the closest thing that either of them can manage to giving or receiving a hug at the moment.

'I…I just thought that it was finally going to be over now, Master. If not for good then at least for a while . I mean I did what I'm supposed to... I finally let it all go. You, the life I got to share with the others. What I lost with my parents... a more connected, less sacrificial life. Did...did I somehow screw up? Did you or the others need more from me? Am I not allowed even a little time to actually try and grieve...?"

“No." The single verbalized word of reply meant for the first two of those questions is firm...emphatic. Ezra flinches in reaction...probably assuming the answer had been meant to reply to the thirs after what had happened earlier. And Force Dammit Dume hates Hates HATES how useless he is with this kind of communication. And so he switches back from verbql speech to mind speech again...praying it'll go easier for both of them now that they're back.to having similar mind at the moment. "No. You did just fine, Ezra...more then just that you were karking amazing. It's going to be okay now, kid... I... promise, no matter how things currently seem. " Ezra whines in relieved reply to that statement....again mostly automatic, and Dume lowers his.chin..letting the weight of his own muzzle serve of reassurance..even if Ezra doesn't underatamd why exactly he finds the act so calming at the moment. "Look Ezra: just close your eyes for now and rest okay? For a little while ... while I talk with the rest of the pack ? I know that this is all terribly strange and confusing and I'm sorry that I wasn't here when you first woke upearlier... but I'm here now and I swear, I'm not leaving. You're safe, okay. You didn't do one damned thing wrong. I have the guard. Just close your eyes and sleep okay, for the moment. And we'll.work on maki g the world seem less awful after your nap."

After that, Dume gently reaches out with his full scope of actual power and wraps the younger Jedi in warmth and comfort both until Ezra falls into sleep...his body goung limp as his breathing slows to calm and his muscles go lax.

Which is when Dume finally pulls back and whirls to bite a metaphorical chunk out of his packmates and siblings.


	2. Discussion

"What did you DO, Aisha?!" The question comes out as a low, furious growl, just a couple of minutes later...once Ezra is out of waking range...left back in the den for the moment under the supervision of the second youngest of the pack while the rest of them move outside to 'discuss things'. Not that Kanan actually expects Ezra actually wake again at all until long after they finish up this argument given his former master's sheer force of applied sleeping trance.

"Why do you ask stupid questions to which you already know the answer Kabuki?" His younger sibling shoots back her own question roughly, almost immediately. Less likely out of shared anger, Dume is well aware than long established childhood habit. Aisha's current body language is both guarded and watchful - as if she expects this to suddenly descend into physical conflict instead of merely loud snarling. Not that Dume isn't halfway tempted....There just wouldn't be point: it wouldn't fix or change anything. Not to mention angry or not he isn't a bully...that's never been in his urge or way...and given he just inherited a pup? That certainly isn't going to be changing today.

Still..he can't quite manage to show off his utter wealth of incredulity. "You performed the ritual of rebirthing on a *human.* And not just that but on one of the last of bloodline RoadWalkers... Not only that but he was still by some measures and juvenile....and you did so without either his understanding or consent?! By all the roads our kind have ever walked or guarded over the millenia, Aisha, what kind of madness was at play in your head?!"

"None!" She snapped back.

"None?" He retorted. Silence fell. Dark and weighted. "Then enlighten me. What exactly were you thinkingg?"

"I was thinking that...that I was within my *rights,* and we both know it l, Kabuki." Aisha informs him a little archly, drawing herself up stiffly to straight backed and regal before ultimately replying, though she also keeps her teeth completely covered too prevent giving him any indication she was a real fight, he can't keep from noticing...

"Oh you were, then? By which of the accords?"

Dume nearly howls in response that- half fury, half incredulity. "You are only two turnings past juvenile yourself, the role is yours yes - in holding until one of us finally mate - by sheer technicality! To say nothing of the fact that Ezra is not of our blood! Though yes he acted as my brother in power. Still there were no young in our pack for you to have say over previously!"

"All roads go dark with the gall of your lies, Brother! Are you really going to stand there and try and claim that other Caleb Dume was less kin to me than you? Because last I checked we still had same soul spark as orgin, same den. Do you forget who first gave you your Human name? Even worse.. Are you really going to try pretend that your other self didn't name that boy as one of his own, by den and by care and by ongoing instruction, not just before but *well after* he learned about the death of his blood parents? Did other you and your mate not repeatedly tend to Ezra Bridger's wounds, freely share with him your rations without thought of cost or fear of feast or famine? Did you ever even once imply he was even mildly unwlecome? And at the ending of that life did he not repay love for love by sacrificing his life not just for your human pack's continued safety but also to guard the gate and all it's secrets...finishing the work you were born as thus to begin?! He saved the whole of our world Kabuki - honored our debts and family both right up to the end. He was...and is!...Dume pack as much by earned right as through as adoption.

Silence falls. Dume gruffs softly in response.to that argument once - conceding. Then he speaks up again, "I wasn't deliberately trying to make him... To make anyone....just seeing to the work of our guard, sister. As we both agree that our mutual pack debts and the accords that were made with the ancients so, so long ago demand..."

Aisha gives out a huff of what can only be described as the wolven equivalent of laughter. "To use that as a valid excuse for any of your acquired debts, Brother you'd of had to remember said objectives at the time! Which we all know full well at this point that you actually didn't! Great paths..what little you did recall...what little of what actually called you occasionally homeward linked to him. Your connection to that pup has always been more than just duty based, Kabuki....more than just completely unavoidable. Or do you really think the rest of us failed to.notice how often your two paths intersect? You recognized him as yours in some ways long before you even remembered t yourself! Do you honestly try and claim Kabuki, that you didn't..no that you don't love him like you would have a pup of your own flesh, had there ever been enough time for such things in the centuries upon centuries before now??"

Silence reigns in response to the question...inescapable as an obvious question. Because no, Dume can't make that claim. Not honestly anyway, and the both of them know it. He doesn't love Ezra any less then he would have loved the child Hera Syndulla carries if he'd been allowed to live that other life...to.watch to.come.into this world and grown. And it'd been every bit as true for Sabine as well...even if she hadn't perhaps needed him with the same desperation Ezra or a baby would have in the beginning. Which honestly? Is part of why he's been struggling so much with his grief... With trying to deal not only with the knowledge of how badly he'd failed to do what he'd promised to do but also.with the knowledge that when he gone away he'd left not just a spouse and brother in arms but three children "

Aisha snuffs again - clearly aware of her positional high ground at the moment, and continuing on almost relentlessly. "He was *yours* Dume, and even if he hadn't been before that point he also wagered up his life for our mutual cause... He had no equally capable or worthy others. He was an orphan by mutual enemy... Not to mention one of the elder bloodline. So then he was OURS...Anything less is insult to.truth and honor. And as already stated I am the eldest of the females in our pack, brother...which means that I am charged with the ultimate welfare of all of our pups.unless you take another mate. A fate you have repeatedly stated is very very unlikely to.ever happen. Ezra is technically still just a Juvenile by our own people's standards if not by his own. His days have been short the battle he faced long and his own mother's guard is long past. Did you really think I didn't see during the time with which all of us worked together that though yes, he accomplished all the things he wanted to do in.order.to.bring about the enemy's end it was only because he dwliberatelyhid the greater truth about all that he'd learned from the rest of your former human pack? He cares too much for the world as a whole and far too little for his safety considering what he actually is. This road seemed the safest one fir the galaxy as a whole.at least.at present. "

Dume huffs in response to that. "Of course he was taking crazy chances, Aisha...that's just Ezra being well... Ezra. He wasn't acting out of arrogance or solf.loathing he just saw what he thought was his best shot and so he took it. And no he also wasn't suicidal - passively or otherwise, if that's what you're trying to hint. He was just in pain.Aisha -most.of.the times that you met him: physically drained and mentally exhausted not to mention a little bit overwhelmed by the possible weight of the outcome of his decisions. Honestly sister who among us wouldn't have felt the same under the same kind of circumstances. He watched Kanan Jarrus fall unexpectedly in battle - losing his second father figure in as many years, then got pressed into world shatteringly important 'mop up service,' by the rest of us less then an hour and a half later, discovered a road to space time and rescued our previously 'dead' and therefore irrecoverable friend...before.gettimg them both out and turning himself into a high priority imperial target in the process."

"Yes, Brother. And he bravely shouldered all that in spite of all of that had previously happened. Saved the time road from intrusion and drove the enemy away. At the price of abandoning all previous protection that should have been rightfully his by our pack oaths in the process. With all of that clearly in mind, Kabuki tell me again... how did I wrong him? I have given him what he most needed...a place to hide and rest. So why do you snarl at this chance for him to just start again? "

"Start again?! Aisha. He still remembers all of his past life at the moment. He thinks - or thought until I told him otherwise he failed and this was some kind of punishment!"

Silence falls among their company at that admission - Aisha huffing and stepping back abruptly in shock. "He what?!"

"He remembers his life as a human Aisha. All.of.it. "

"But I don't understand...we used the same instructions that you did exactly, Dume. And as we know last time the ritual took away the whole of your memories of your previous life!"

Dume snuffs deeply, dipping his head in response to Aisha's horrifying acknowledgement of that most shameful failure before ultimately letting go of the subject. Though he also doesn't let the scold dissipate entirely before he gruffly continues speaking. "What all of you just did to him Aisha...has not been done to any but me in countless generations. Force...it may have never been done before to a human...all the stories I heard as a pup concerning the matter didn't involve human's rebirthing as pups but full grown loth wolfs rebirthing as either children or infants. And even that even involved only the oldest and the wisest of our kind taking the risk in the most desperate or needful of circumstances. There are no guide maps for dealing with this kind of thing anymore, Little Sister. The Jedi took most if not all of the archive when they took Caleb Dume away from Lothol as a baby and since that time the empire no doubt took most if not all of the rest. There's nothing left now to help us help him cope but my rapidly fading memories of my own puphoods fading legends concerning such things."

"Then he will have to survive it in much the same way that you did, initially, Dume." The white wolf shrugs, "At least this time away he won't be as crippled by ignorance as much as you yourself were - unable to stop them from coming to take you. He speaks to you well enough through mindspeech at the moment he can be taught what skills of the people he'll need..and we'll work on teaching him our own tongue, or rather we will try to at least. Now Dume - were you able to find out from him what's wrong with the meals that we've been offering since he first woke up here...he refuses everything we've offered him but water, big brother, and at this age he won't survive if he won't eat."

Dume sighs, again, titlting his head to one side as he ponders the question for a moment. He hadn't asked Ezra about this specifically earlier of course, but he can come up with a couple fairly obvious suspicions. "What have the rest of you been offering him as nourishment up until now?"

Kabuki speaks up then, "The same as one would all other weanable pups, Captain. And we've tried offering him several different kinds of game he refuses to touch it. Though at the beginning at least he willingly drank whatever water we brought him....but he takes less and less of even that now every time."

Dume gruffs softly. Because that one sentence? Explains pretty much everything else that's wrong with the kid that basic shock doesn't cover. 'Like everyone else' after all, has never applied to Ezra Bridger a single day in his life.. 

None of the others have apparently figure that out yet though...any more then they have apparently realized just how much of Ezra's human memories had actually come along with his soul spark through the transitions - his memories appear to be all but completely intact, as far as he can tell, unlike Dume's own transformation had gone when he'd first completed the ritual himself and transitioned from fully grown wolf into tiny human infant who'd had no clue afterward about things like unexplainably waking up in an entirely different form but still having your previous body's years of training about what was or wasn't safe to eat.

"Well first of...in case the rest of you failed to notice this already... Ezra still has most if not all of his milk teeth as far as I can tell...which means that he still needs to nurse while slowly transitioning over to more solid food, and what's more after talking to him earlier... he's still processing his world through a human mindset at the moment. What the rest of you see as natural baby food - he been seeing only as sickening looking, raw meat that is very likely to sicken him."

"He remembers that much?!" Vanay's voice is absolutely incredulous...

"Yes. And he's going to have to be taught how to use a whole new set of senses and instincts.What is and isn't safe for this body, which is very different from his old one." 

"Well what do you expect us all to do in the interim to try and help him, Dume...because time is growing shorter and shorter. He has been here over two days now and he still refuses everything but water from the stream. Something must be done soon - he already sleeps too much..he must get better food in him soon or in the end he'll be too weak to eat even if we can obtain something more to his current tastes for him to eat!"

And there Dume acknowledges to himself more than a little bit grimly, is the proverbial rub. He hadn't been lying about Ezra's apparent age earlier, apparently, the others had expected weanable pup given Ezra own age - instead for whatever reason they had ended up with a near infant. One who still needed to gain a certain portion of his daily calories while nursing. All which was deeply, deeply problematic since even if that idea wouldn't have freaked Ezra out - which Dume really doubted, Aisha was still a borderline juvenile herself unable to feed a litter currently. Even if she does mate with her current paramour...which grows more likely with each years they remain together she is not likely to have her own litter for another quarter century at least.

Which means that right now they are all collectively screwed because...well maybe yes, he could probably convince Ezra to drink some puppy formula for awhile...He had no thumbs to open cans or bottles - and no way he can think of to go shopping. Yes he could try and go hunt down Sabine maybe... but she's been helping with security all over planet the last few weeks. He could also try and sniff out the Ghost, but he's pretty sure that the latter is currently out of the system for the rest of the month at least and even if it weren't...

Yeah no. He is no way prepared for the conversations that would require at the moment. 

It's not that he doesn't remember Hera...doesn't miss her so much he aches with it - of course he does, but even if he could find a way to put the actual reality of his backhistory into a coherent narrative... he can barely manage two syllable words when he speaks aloud at the moment. And even if he could do otherwise, well Hera doesn't need this kind of stress on top of everything else when she's trying to both carry on and grieve. 

So Dume is completely on his own in terms of dealing with all of this... he is going to have to figure out a way to get what Ezra needs until he can get him properly weaned in a manner that hopefully causes minimal panic. Which is a large order since most people? Tend to FREAK OUT when a giant wolf decides to stroll into town to go pet supply shopping. How much formula will Ezra actually need? How is Dume going to actually pay for it? Is his only real option larceny?

Probably it is yes. Unless...

Realization sparks like an ember in the back of his mind a second or so later, and then he relaxes. Slightly. At least for the moment. Because come to think of it he does have on other option right now in terms of other two legged reinforcement.

"I? Am going back down to the den to make sure that Ezra does not wake again in the company of strangers. And you three, sister mine? Are all going to head to Capital City and bring me back Governor Ryder Azadi." He pauses then snuff a little in amused remembrance. "Be insistent of course in getting him here as quickly as possible but also try not to scare him too badly in the process."

"Azadi?"

"Yes. Azadi, Aisha," He informs her patiently, "He is an old friend who has worked along side us before and respects and trusts us...well mostly. Not to mention he personally owes Ezra numerous favors and can probably helping us get what Ezra needs right now foodwise."

Granted, Lothol's previous - and all too likely future governor is probably going to have a mild heart when the rest of the pack suddenly shows up at his edge of town rental but honestly, Dume's sort of past caring at the moment.

Ezra literally helped save the man's star blessed planet from Imperial occupation by banishing an entire imperial fleet with nothing but stubborness and concentrated will. The least the former governor can ido for Ezra in thanks is help Dume secure the poor kid something decent to eat.


	3. Futher Explanations and Awakening

Ezra doesn't wake even when Dume goes down to check on him. Instead, he's exactly where he was left...still tucked in a tight little ball in one corner with a motionless Kabuki watching silently over him.

At least until Dume reappears. Then the gray wolf rises, cocks his head slightly and looks in his direction.

"I've never seen a wolf with that coat pattern before. So dark black that it's practically...."

"Blue?"

'Yeah." Kabuki tilts his head. "Is it....like....common in other packs from other places?"

"These days no. In the past." Dume stretches his legs out. "I remember Grandmother telling stories from her own grandmother's childhood...back then it might have been."

The other wolf studies Ezra again for another long moment. "So then...what are we all going to call him."

"Ezra."

"So we're not going to be naming him something else then?"

"Considering that he remembers who he is? I guess you could always present the idea as an option. But I'll be surprised if he wants to take you up on it."

Kabuki 's whole body slumps in clear distress.

"We really kriffed this all up didn't we?"

"Yes."

"I LIKE little ones. Or I think I like them anyway. I never mean to so badly scare him."

"You *think* that you like little ones?" Dume tilts his own head a little skeptically.

"Me and Marek were actually the youngest in our own previous pack...We have two older sisters though.... One on her first litter the other on either her third or her second. All of them are young to go far from the den though yet... we try as often as possible to stop and pay them all a visit...but they just grow so..."

"Fast?"

"Yeah. And these past few centuries...travel has been less and less safe. We all thought with the Invaders gone... well it'd be fun to be a pack with an actual pup of its own to raise again."

Dume chuffs in spite of himself. "Pups can be fun yes, but they are also a pain in both haunches. Believe me, I grew up around several of them and helped with their care when I was a Juvenile. They never let you sleep. They want to sniff, chew or otherwise scent mark literally everything."

"Says the bachelor wolf who apparently ended up taking in two foundlings both in less then ten years while he was living as human." The comment when it's tossed back moments later comes with no actual challenge, just a clear wolfy grin.

Dume can't help smirking back. He'd dearly missed Kabuki's sharp witted humor. "They were both technically juveniles actually...the things they wanted and needed from us were different. Having a pup's more like having human child or a toddler. I don't know how else to explain it really.. mentoring at that age is very, very different." .

"Less mess toclean up and less guard work in the day to day maybe?"

Dume huff snorts. "Try ten times more guard work. At leastif we're talking about Ezra specifically."

"He's a wanderer then? He's barely moved or made as much as sound since he's woken." The other wolf whines low again in his throat. "Like I said earlier Captain. We're all really sorry about how all of this happened. Your sister was just...really adament about all of it. And like I said before...well...we all for the most part all liked the kid - as little as we'd gotten to know him. Most humans other humans would likely have run away from all of us on first sight...or worse yet started shooting. The pup was just curious when he saw Aisha initially though...cautious but somehow open."

"Yes." Ezra Bridger has always been attracted to and attracted by dangerous, beautiful people and things.

"My brother says he likely would have been name one of the best of the Beast Masters back in the elder times...? Or that's what the Two Legged Force users used to call it according to what's left of therecords the Empire found or destroyed yet."

"The way the Jedi would have put it yes, he's a high level empath with a particular talent for animal ken."

"And we scared him. When you died. And then again when he woke up like this." Kabuki sighs. "We...I...didn't mean to scare him like that."

"So you keep on repeating."

"Because it's important. Look Dume, later on after he's finally eaten... I'll stay out of his way. We'll all stay out of his way at least for the moment until he starts to gain trust. But tell him we're sorry. He needs to know he's gonna be safe here. That we're not going to hurt him."

Dume studies him a long moment. Then dips his head a little, "All right. I'll tell him."

"You promise?"

"I do...."

" I... thank you, Captain. We were just trying to help him. Honest. Your sister was right..he's so young and so brave. And It's just been so long now...so much war ongoing war... I guess we all thought it certainly couldn't do any harm to save him..."

"You all thought that it be nice to help raise a pup instead of just having to part with sibling after sibling or parent after parent the way so many other have had to as of recently."

"Yes." Any further response that Kabuki could have made after is interrupted by the low muffled sound of Ezra moaning and stirring and the gray wolf's rapid rise and ascent out of the den before he can fully rouse again.

The blue pup jerks once or maybe even twice...minisculely as if Ezra's coming out of some kind of deep dream, before slowly opening up his eyes and slowly surveying the space all around him. His slow track of his surroundings pausing only when his gaze falls back on the white wolf who's massive tail is now laying literal inches from his own smaller body.

He stretches out a hesitant paw after a moment or so to cautiously swipe at it.

Then speaks again in Dume's mind again...this time more cautiously, 'Uhm....hi Kanan?'

'Dume.' He very calmly sends back. 'Is what they all call me here. Though yes I hold all the memories of the man you knew before, as Kanan. I know that's no doubt hard to understand. We can talk about it more in depth once you eat if you like...and you can call me whatever you like when we speak mind to mind as we are right now. But Ezra you should also try to learn my wolven name as well - as well as the names of all others - so when you need help you can ask and everyone else can also understand.'

There's a pause then. Followed by a hesitant snuff of agreement. 'So then you're...KananPlusLothWolf? KananButNotJustKanan?'

'I was as I am now first... until I chose to be born as the human Caleb Dume...who took the name Kanan Jarrus. When he died...what he was - at least in memory returned to me as I now am again.'

'You're saying that my former master was...well, .a reincarnated loth wolf?'

'Yes he was. Or I was. After a fashion.'

'Wow. Kanan told me once that he didn't even know who his birth parents were...or the location of his originating planet.'

'Yes...because he.. I was taken from Lothol as a human while I was still technically an infant. He did not remember me - I remembered him, when I woke up again in this form at the point of his human passing..'

'You're claiming you just *forgot* that you were in fact a reincarnated loth wolf when you were born then, in essence?'

'Yes - or rather again, yes after a fashion.'

'You seem to say that. Alot.'

Dume gives a heaving whole body wolf shrug. 'Some concepts do not easily translate from my birth tongue to basic, Ezra. It is as they say, complicated.'

"Yeah....I think I'm starting get that... " There's a pause as Ezra carefully climbs to his own feet then cautiously stretches, wobbling a little initially on his four legs before glancing down for a moment or at his rearranged set of paired limbs. Then he twists to one side, catching sight of his long tail/ He tries to twist his body toward it automatically in or to reach out for an instinctive better real sniff.

'A tip to save you hours of time. Don't waste your effort...we all try for literal years but none of us actually ever catch it.'

"I have a tail now." Ezra blankly shoots back at hims mentally.

'Yes, Ezra so we both have already noticed.'

'No... I have a kriffing forced damned tail and I'm covered in fur and no arms and an extra set legs! WHY IN SITH HELLS DO I HAVE A TAIL, FLUFFY FURR AND AND AN EXTRA SET OF LEGS, KANAN?!'

Dume opts for the truth, if an admittedly simplified version at the moment. 'Ancient Loth Wolf Ritual Done by Know it all younger sister?'

'Oh thank force." Ezra huffs out, whirling once around in both relief and sheer agitation before suddenly catching himself up abruptly on his oversized paws and almost inevitably losing his balance. "Because I'll tell you right now Master...if I'd actually turned out to be another amnesiatic reincarnated Loth Wolf just like you apparently are then I was going to end up with a whole bunch of potentially uncomfortable questions about both our sets of parents!' There's a long pause then, followed by "Wait...the other white wold I've been riding around with is your younger sibling Kanan?! 

**Author's Note:**

> Please be aware that this story is actually more about Ezra and DUME then it is about Ezra and Kanan. How Kanan and Dume differ can best be understood via the following metaphor...
> 
> Suppose that you're an extremely powerful Force being with an assigned personal mission to guard something invaluable...a mission which requires you go through a ritual that rebirths you as human in order to better do that job in time of great crisis. Only one problem... You forget who you were and what you were supposed to be doing at the same time you're reborn. Then you get dragged off the planet where your duty was actually located...
> 
> Because the Jedi? Didn't bother to read the fine print in essence.
> 
> So you spend 30 plus years thinking you're a regular(ish) human. Who gets found and trained by the Jedi. Who survives the purges, then wanders around packless and miserable for several years before ultimately meeting an awesome alpha female and falling love... after which the two of you adopt a couple teenagers ...joins the rebellion...etc...the story of Kanan's life basically. 
> 
> Only then Kanan dies. And the part of him that forgot his duty before? Remembers. Oops. With complicating factors as a result basically.
> 
> So in this story - Kanan the human is gone. Forever. 
> 
> But Kanan was a variant of Dume with amnesia basically.
> 
> And Dume? Still has all of Kanan's past emotional bonds and memories.
> 
> Though yes as a wolf the way he responds to them will differ in some ways significantly.


End file.
